service cheques:
frequently asked questions

Because the household help enters into an official employment relationship with Randstad Service Cheques, this is not black market activity. On the contrary, everything is arranged and paid for properly and punctually.

As well as gross wages, each household help receives travel expenses between home and work, holiday pay, an end-of-year bonus and guaranteed pay in the event of sickness or brief absence. He or she also accumulates pension rights, and Randstad Service Cheques pays for the cost of the ten national holidays and for work accident insurance.

Everyone has the right to a safe working environment. Every household help therefore undergoes a safety training programme and receives an accompanying brochure and CD-Rom. This training has been designed on the basis of an analysis of the dangers associated with working as a household help.

With a view to continuous improvement, an independent body conducts a satisfaction survey every two years covering you, as the customer, and our household helps. Obviously, you don't have to wait for the survey in order to let us know what you think or share any concerns you may have with us. We also send you an evaluation form on a regular basis. If you wish, you can discuss your feedback directly with your household help - expressing your appreciation directly gives pleasure and inspires enthusiasm! Your feedback forms part of the basis for an individual evaluation meeting that our Service Cheques consultant holds every year with each household help.

Randstad Service Cheques takes out work accident insurance for its household helps in case they become the victim of an accident in the workplace or on the way to or from work.

Randstad Service Cheques is insured for material damage. You will be reimbursed for damage over the value of €250 subject to acceptance of the claim by our insurance company and on the basis of the value of the item at the time of the accident.

Any individual (physical person) who is resident in Belgium.

• Activities in your home
• cleaning
• window cleaning
• washing and ironing
• preparing meals
• small occasional sewing jobs
• Activities outside the home
• small errands

Service cheques can only be used at private locations.
Cleaning professional premises (e.g. a doctor's surgery), a rented-out studio or commonly owned stairwell... is not allowed.

The household help can work on a stepladder with a maximum of 2 steps (maximum working height = 2 metres).

No, employment using service cheques is not possible for

• your family to the 2nd degree (parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren)
• people in the same family (brothers, sisters, brothers in law, sisters in law)
• people living at the same address

No, the service cheques are in the user's name and the employment must occur at the address stated on the service cheque.

No, the service cheque is exclusively intended for the maintenance of your private home.

No, the service cheque is exclusively intended for the maintenance of your private home.

No, the service cheque is exclusively intended for maintaining the private home where you live yourself. In this case, the tenant can use service cheques in his or her own name.

Yes, provided that it is located in Belgium and that you stay there personally (regardless of whether you go there frequently or less frequently).

At present, Service Cheques may only be used for domestic work.

No, the service cheque is only intended for household tasks.

Yes, if you benefit from a personal assistance budget (PAB), you can also use this allocation to purchase service cheques. The tasks you can pay for using service cheques are limited to household tasks (see - which tasks can a household help perform via the service cheques?).

You can only order service cheques from Sodexho, with whom you have to register in advance. This registration is free. You can register online or you can fax the enclosed document (NL / FR) to Sodexho. After registration you receive confirmation from Sodexho and the personal user number you need to order your service cheques.

How to order service cheques:

1. You pay € 7,5 per service cheques into one of the account numbers that you received from Sodexho on confirmation of your registration
2. The minimum order is 10 service cheques
3. You must state your personal user number in your notice of payment

Practical tip: we advise you to start a standing order with your bank. This method makes life easier for you and prevents you from forgetting an order.

a) How soon is my registration with Sodexho confirmed?
Sodexho sends a registration confirmation by post within five working days of receipt of the application. If you indicate an e-mail address or mobile phone number, you will receive a digital confirmation within two working days.

b) How soon do I receive my service cheques?
Digital service cheques will be in your digital portfolio the same day that payment is received. You will be informed by email or SMS. You will receive paper service cheques by post within three days of receipt of your payment.

If you do not receive the service cheques you must notify this to Sodexho with the designated form, at latest in the month following the month of payment. A new order will be sent to you free of charge.

• There's no more need to fill in and prepare service cheques time after time
• Your stock of cheques is topped up on the day itself after receipt of your payment
• Service cheques which don't arrive in the post on time become a thing of the past
• Your household help no longer has to go to a Randstad branch to hand in the service cheques

A telephone and, preferably, a computer with an Internet connection.

1. Your household help receives a card with a personal code from Randstad Service Cheques, and uses your phone to call a free 0800 number whenever she has finished a session of work for you. Among other details, she reports the number of hours worked.
2. You have up to nine working days after the work has been done to confirm or dispute the details she has reported by phone or computer. After this period, automatic validation occurs.
3. If the hours reported by your household help do not tally with the contractual agreement, you have nine working days to correct the hours. You should also report the adjusted hours total separately to your Randstad Service Cheques consultant.

If you haven't registered yet:
You can register on www.dienstencheques-rva.be. During the registration, opt for digital service cheques.

If you are already registered:

Via internet:
On www.dienstencheques.sodexho.be you can adapt your profile in your personal customer zone and opt for digital service cheques.

By telephone:
Inform Sodexho using the change of profile document, obtainable from Sodexho. You will then receive an access code (username and password). Call 02 547 54 92 to confirm, dispute or check reported hours.

A change of profile (from paper to digital) can be made at any time, regardless of how many paper service cheques you still hold. The day after you have adapted your profile, you can arrange a bank transfer payment to Sodexho, and the service cheques will be in your digital portfolio on the day itself once payment has been received. Suppose you still have two paper cheques left and a stock of digital service cheques. Your household help works four hours. She will take away the two remaining paper service cheques and register the other two hours via the free 0800 number.

Tip: let your Randstad Service Cheques consultant know that you have opted for digital service cheques, so that your household help will also know in good time!

The cheques are valid for 8 months. You cannot exchange expired service cheques under any circumstances, or request repayment for these.

On exchange you pay Sodexo an administrative cost of € 0.25 per paper cheque. In the case of electronic cheques this administrative cost is not charged, unless you wish to exchange your electronic cheques for paper cheques. Then you also pay € 0.25/service cheque. At repayment of the cheques you have to take account of an administrative cost of € 0.25/order.

For full details and the required documents it is best to look at the website www.dienstencheques-rva.be.

If the cheques are lost or stolen, you can request replacement of the cheques. You then pay € 0.25/service cheque. If you request a repayment, you then pay € 0.25/order.

To obtain the full details and the required documents it is best to look at the website www.dienstencheques-rva.be.

You can request a household help via your Randstad office. It will pass on your vacancy to the service cheques adviser. You receive a detailed information brochure. As soon as a suitable candidate is selected for you, the Randstad service cheques adviser will contact you to make concrete arrangements.

You can forward your preferred days when handing in your vacancy. We will take the greatest possible account of these. If we find a suitable candidate who nonetheless cannot work on these days at your home, we will contact you by telephone.

The minimum is 3 hours per session. You can choose between 1 x per week or every 2 weeks.

In compliance with the legislation your household help cannot work on Sundays or official public holidays. In practice this means that if your household help works every 2 weeks on a Tuesday, for example, work on Tuesday 1 November will be cancelled and she will next visit you on Tuesday 15 November (and not on Tuesday 8 November).

Yes, it is possible if your household help can be employed officially in Belgium (*). He or she must visit one of the Randstad branches for a personal discussion. If the possibility is wanted, employment with other private individuals can be arranged (in consultation with the household help).

* Since 1 May 2009, new EU citizens (Poland, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia) have been able to work in Belgium without a work permit. Do you have a household help from one of these countries? Give her/him an official contract!

Of course, the household help earns more than EUR 7,5/hour. The household help employed by Randstad benefits from the following remuneration package:

An attractive gross hourly rate
  + holiday pay
  + a travel allowance (from the home to each private individual)
  + 10 national holidays (in accordance with the legislation)
  + an end of year bonus
  + an illness payment (in accordance with seniority)
  + payment during a brief absence (in accordance with the legislation)
  + accumulated rights (pension, unemployment, etc.)
  + work accident insurance

But there is more. Randstad Service Cheques places a strong emphasis on being a good employer. Our HR policy tailored to the household helps contributes to this.

Thus, each household help benefits from:

• a safety training programme including an accompanying brochure/CD-ROM
• a loyalty-building programme with all types of advantages
• a work apron, anti-slip safety shoes, household gloves, first aid kit and safety pass
• training courses
• coaching and support from our team of service cheques consultants
• evaluation of satisfaction

...and a temporary or permanent contract with one of the best Belgian employers.

1. As soon as we have a suitable candidate for you, we provide a contract as well as a direct debit order. Once your signed contract is in our possession, the household help can start to work for you. You need to transmit the direct debit order to your financial institution within 5 days.
2. Good communication is important for smooth cooperation. Inform the household help of your expectations, tell her about possible dangers (e.g. steep stairs), let her know about the products that can or cannot be used, etc. To do this you can use the free work planning and communication guide that you receive. You can also indicate which tasks you want done occasionally. Keep the time allocation realistic.
3. Randstad Service Cheques provides all of its household helps with a free work apron, safety shoes, household globes, first aid kit and a safety pass. It is important for the materials and products that you make available free of charge to be in a good, safe state (a safe stepladder with a maximum of 2 steps, products in original packaging with a label, appliances with safe leads, etc.).
4. If you opt for electronic service cheques, your household help calls the free 0800 number at the end of work from your telephone. If you have paper service cheques you hand over a valid, dated and signed service cheque per hour to the household help (the validity date is stated on each service cheque). The household help hands the service cheques over to us. It is important for you to order service cheques on time so that you can pay for hours at the time the work is done. If (exceptionally) you do not have (sufficient) paper or electronic service cheques to pay for the services, you fill in the 'declaration' document that you can obtain from your service cheques consultant. Give the document, which you have completed, dated and signed, to your household help when the work has been done. These declarations are no longer valid as soon as you have handed over the outstanding service cheques to your household help.

A weekly roster is compiled in consultation with the household help. This roster is kept insofar as possible. So you usually have the same household help.

We inform you when your household help is absent, e.g. due to holidays or illness. If you want a replacement you can tell your services cheques consultant. We do our very best to replace your help, although we cannot guarantee this. The guaranteed wage during an illness/accident is paid by Randstad Service Cheques (or the (mutual) insurance company).

Our household helps usually have a permanent contract. This means that it is necessary for the hours stated in your agreement to apply throughout the year (including by providing access to the home if you are absent). The exceptions are the 10 national paid holidays (and their replacement dates) and the periods when the household help is ill or on holiday.

If (exceptionally) the planned hours cannot be worked, you can have them worked at another time during the quarter, provided that your household help and your Randstad service cheques consultant agree. This prevents us from having to charge you for unworked hours.
It means that if you plan to be away, it is also best to examine when your household help can work these hours.

Example:
If you are away in July (start of the 3rd quarter), you can make up hours in July, August or September. If you cannot let a planned service date take place at the end of June (end of the 2nd quarter), you can only make up the hours before this, i.e. in April, May or June.

Hours can be made up in various ways. For example, hours can be made up on 1 day or a larger number of hours can be worked over a number of weeks.

For example, take 4 hours to be made up (hours originally planned on a Tuesday):

- the household help works 4 extra hours on a Thursday or works 8 hours instead of 4 on the following Tuesday

or
- the household help works for 5 hours on 4 successive Tuesdays instead of 4 hours.

Randstad Service Cheques employs a large number of household helps and has a wide range of candidates on offer thanks to its extensive network of offices. The demand for household helps is greater in some regions than the supply of suitable candidates. Randstad Service Cheques works on the basis of the available and selected candidates, not with waiting lists. As soon as a household help is available, the local Randstad Service Cheques consultant will contact you and a specific starting date will be agreed.

Buying service cheques offers a tax benefit. This tax deduction applies to a maximum of 350 service cheques for the 2008 tax assessment year, on income from the 2007 year.

One hour costs EUR 5.25 after the deduction. All cheques above the maximum number of 350 are excluded from the calculation of the tax deduction.

You will receive a tax certificate that you must add to your tax declaration from Sodexo before 1 March of each year.

At the start of the cooperation you pay a one-off file cost of EUR 9.85. You pay EUR 7,5 per hour for a service cheque.

A 30% tax deduction applies to this amount. We charge a fixed a fixed administrative fee per worked week of EUR 2.56 (only the weeks when your household help actually works at your home). This is collected by direct debit.

So if you use a household help for 5 hours per week (and you can benefit from the tax deduction), the service cheque costs you EUR 5.76 / hour net, including the administrative fee.

A team of specialist consultants is ready to advise and assist you in each geographical area. If you want to find the right contact for your local district, enter your postcode in the office page and you will get the right details immediately. You can also call our free number 0800 30 130.

You can fill in the form and state your preferences. It will be automatically sent to the Randstad Service Cheques office in your vicinity.